With the advance of digital technology, various types of electronic devices capable of communication and processing personal information have emerged, such as mobile communication terminal, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), smartphone, and table Personal Computer (PC). These electronic devices are generally capable of supporting various functions such as a communication function, a document and email composition function, a media (music and motion picture) layback function, a schedule organization function, an Internet function, a Social Networking Service (SNS) function, and a phonebook function.
The electronic device may be provided with a touch panel which is capable of operating in a touch input mode or proximity input mode (e.g. hovering input mode and motion and gesture recognition mode). Here, the touch input mode is the operation mode for detecting a user input made onto a specific area on the touchscreen displaying contents and performing an operation according to the detected user input. The proximity input mode is the operation mode for detecting a user input made with a material above the screen without contact, i.e. in non-contact manner, and performing an operation according to the signal corresponding to the user input. In the non-contact gesture input mode, the proximity input (e.g. hovering) can be made with an input tool (e.g. user's finger and electronic pen.
The electronic device may be capable of detecting the proximity input made by placing the pointer above a certain area of the touchscreen and executing a function such as object selection function, object execution function, and a preview function for presenting internal information or supplementary information like air view function in response to the proximity input, thereby improving user convenience.
The proximity input may be distinguished from the touch input based on whether the input gesture is a touch gesture or a hovering gesture. This may be done, for example, to provide a view function, which, although simple, is not highly practical, and thus, it is not used frequently. Since the proximity gestures are not only distinct just limited to execution of a simple function such as view function, there is lack of motivation for the user to use the proximity input mode.